Ok so let me walk you through how this night went for me and see if it tracks similarly for you.<\/p>\n
I turn on my TV at 7:00 because I forgot it was a road game.<\/p>\n
False start. That\u2019s OK. We can recover from this. We\u2019ll be fine.<\/p>\n
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The game starts when? 9:00? P.M.? That can\u2019t be right. Wow. Pacific Standard Time, eh? We\u2019re still doing that? I thought we voted to end PST just like we did Daylight Saving Time. Wait, we\u2019re still doing that? I swear, this country has to get its act together.<\/p>\n
Alright. 9:00. Here we go.<\/p>\n
Spurs\u2013Clippers. Last time we played it was one of the highlights of the season and I can\u2019t wait to see what kind of fireworks we have in store tonight. Should be electric.<\/p>\n
Kawhi\u2019s out, eh? Shocking. Dylan\u2019s still out? Bummer. And Kornet? Bummer. Well. Alright. Still might be fun.<\/p>\n
Oh shoot, the game started already.<\/p>\n
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Let\u2019s see. Peacock. Peacock. Where is Peacock?<\/p>\n
No, I don\u2019t want to watch Ted. Or Hamnet. Or Love Island All-Stars (it always gets boring near the end anyway).<\/p>\n
Ok. Spurs\u2013Clippers. Here we go.<\/p>\n
WE\u2019RE DOWN HOW MUCH?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t need to watch this. This is\u2026 this is a throwaway game. We\u2019re missing guys. They\u2019re missing guys. It\u2019s Monday night. It\u2019s late. I\u2019m just going to call it a night and see what happened in the morning.<\/p>\n
Ok, nice dunk though Devin. I see you. I\u2019m still going to bed though.<\/p>\n
Alright, well. De\u2019Aaron, that was nice. Steph, that was very nice.<\/p>\n
Maybe\u2026<\/p>\n
Yeah, maybe we see how this plays out.<\/p>\n
The funny thing is, the Spurs had already started climbing back into the game while I was busy trying to convince myself to go to bed. And that\u2019s kind of become their thing this year. Games get weird, momentum swings around, and they just calmly work their way back into it.<\/p>\n
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Stephon Castle was flying around for offensive rebounds and putbacks, and before long the Clippers\u2019 17\u20133 start had quietly started to fade. Wemby started controlling things defensively and almost effortlessly asserting himself on offense. Devin Vassell found space and knocked down a couple shots. Fox started getting downhill and bending the defense the way he does. The Spurs started getting stops, the pace flipped, and suddenly the whole thing felt different. By the time Jordan McLaughlin hit a three to tie it early in the second quarter, the entire game had reset.<\/p>\n
And honestly, that kind of swing doesn\u2019t even feel unusual anymore.<\/p>\n
One thing that\u2019s really stood out to me this year is that across the NBA, no lead feels particularly safe. It doesn\u2019t matter who you are or who you\u2019re playing. Twenty point leads happen all the time, and twenty point comebacks seem to happen just as often.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because scoring is completely off the rails or because defense is now more of a suggestion than a requirement. Maybe the rules are too soft. Or too hard? Look, I honestly don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
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What I do know is that a quick 10-point lead doesn\u2019t even register with me anymore when the Spurs have it. That\u2019s nothing. That can disappear during a bathroom break.<\/p>\n
For some reason that logic never applies when the Spurs are down, though. That still feels catastrophic. Just one of life\u2019s little mysteries, I guess.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m fine. I\u2019m actually the normal amount of anxious for a guy my age. Why do you ask?<\/p>\n
The Spurs handled their business in this game. Even when it felt like they weren\u2019t going to. Even when things got a little wobbly down the stretch and it briefly seemed like Darius Garland might have invented a floater that could somehow arc just high enough to evade Wemby\u2019s outstretched arms enough times to pull the Clippers back into it.<\/p>\n
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But the Spurs were good. They were solid. They got the job done.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know if I give them enough credit for being professional like that. We talk all the time about their youth and inexperience, as if it\u2019s a defining trait that\u2019s inseparable from who they are. But for all that talk, they don\u2019t really play like it.<\/p>\n
They have their ups and downs. Stretches where things aren\u2019t working the way they should. That part can absolutely be chalked up to youth and inexperience.<\/p>\n
The key part, though, is what happens next.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t spin out. They don\u2019t let the rough stretch become the whole story. They just attack it like a problem that needs to be solved. A puzzle to figure out.<\/p>\n
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There\u2019s a steely resolve when they hit a roadblock instead of panic.<\/p>\n
I have no idea how or if this will play out in the playoffs. Every single person even tangentially associated with having an opinion on basketball is so quick to fall over themselves and breathlessly explain to you how \u201cthe playoffs are a completely different animal.\u201d The intensity is different. The stakes are higher. The lights are brighter. All that jazz. I\u2019m as guilty of doing this as anyone!<\/p>\n
The truth is that I don\u2019t know. Frankly, I don\u2019t remember. It\u2019s been a long time since the Spurs were in the playoffs and an even longer time since they were in there with a team full of guys who hadn\u2019t been there before. I don\u2019t know how any of this works anymore. I don\u2019t know what any of these guys are capable of.<\/p>\n
I know it will be different, and I know that they know it. They\u2019re getting it from all sides just like we are. It\u2019s not the last test they have to pass, but it certainly is the next one.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey don\u2019t have enough experience though\u201d. That\u2019s the story on this team. That\u2019s the line you hear over and over again. The playoffs are different. The intensity is different. The stakes are higher. The lights are brighter. Remember?<\/p>\n
But when I think about what this team has spent the entire season doing, I\u2019m not sure the word \u201cexperience\u201d means quite what people think it does. Because every night it feels like they\u2019re running into something new. A weird game. A bad stretch. A matchup problem. A moment where things stop working the way they\u2019re supposed to.<\/p>\n
And every night they treat it the same way.<\/p>\n
They slow down. They look at it. They start figuring it out.<\/p>\n
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They treat it like a puzzle.<\/p>\n
The playoffs are a completely different test. It will expose things this team hasn\u2019t seen yet.<\/p>\n
But if experience is really just learning how to solve the problems in front of you, then this team has been getting plenty of it all year.<\/p>\n
And so far, when these Spurs run into a problem, they don\u2019t panic.<\/p>\n
They solve it.<\/p>\n
Takeaways<\/p>\n
50 wins feels pretty good. What was our over\/under for wins? like, 43? 50 is pretty good! I find this acceptable!<\/p>\n
I feel like I could come in here after every single game and just make the whole thing about how much I enjoy watching Stephon Castle play basketball. I love the way he moves. He sort of lopes down the court with this really tall posture, like he\u2019s almost teetering forward when he runs, and it creates this constant feeling that something unexpected might happen. He\u2019s explosive, but not in the same way De\u2019Aaron Fox is explosive. Fox is lightning fast. Castle is more like\u2026 sudden. Once he decides to go, everything just starts happening quickly. I realize I\u2019m kind of spinning out trying to explain this, but he\u2019s just an aesthetically pleasing basketball player to watch. The movements are fun. The chaos feels intentional. I saw someone on Twitter say he\u2019s a consistent three point shot away from being Dwyane Wade and I nearly passed out.<\/p>\n
It was nice to see the Spurs figure out a way to win without shooting particularly well from three. Obviously I\u2019d prefer them to shoot well from three, but come playoff time that\u2019s the kind of thing that tends to wax and wane a little. So: how to succeed in business without hitting many threes. Step one is you\u2019ve got to grab somewhere in the vicinity of a million rebounds. Absolutely pound the boards. The Spurs did that. They were aggressive, especially on the offensive glass, and it never really felt like they were wasting possessions even when the shots weren\u2019t falling. Step two is you put the clamps on defensively. (This is admittedly a little easier when Kawhi isn\u2019t playing, but still. Odds are pretty decent that on any given night Kawhi won\u2019t be playing.) If you can\u2019t score, then they sure as hell better not be scoring either. Basketball is actually pretty simple when you think about it. As always, my door is open for any NBA consultancy opportunities.<\/p>\n
Hi! This is Charlie\u2019s anxiety talking now. For some reason the Clippers feel kind of spooky to me as a playoff matchup and I would simply prefer that we not do that. I know we\u2019ve won these two games against them, but they play us really hard. They\u2019re well coached, they\u2019re disciplined, and they just seem to do a lot of things well. I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t like the Kawhi storyline being something we have to hear about constantly. I would prefer to simply not experience that. That said, I could probably talk myself into every single possible matchup feeling spooky if you gave me enough time, so please feel free to disregard Charlie\u2019s anxiety. Please feel free to disregard Charlie altogether, he really is just kinda making this up as he goes along.<\/p>\n
WWL Post Game Press Conference<\/p>\n
\u2013 Ok, so it seemed like you were about to do one of those old school running diaries here and then just bailed halfway through. Can you walk us through that decision?<\/p>\n
\u2013 Yeah, sure. I mean, sometimes you sit down to write and you know your angle. You watched the game, it all made sense, you were in the flow and felt it coming together, and the only step left is pen to paper. Other times\u2026 nothing.<\/p>\n
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\u2013 And this was one of the nothing times?<\/p>\n
\u2013 Yeah, for sure. The game ended so late last night and I really felt like I\u2019d just find it in the morning. Then, sure enough, I sat down in front of a blank WordPress doc and it was crickets.<\/p>\n
\u2013 So the running diary bit was maybe a way in?<\/p>\n
\u2013 Yeah. There are a couple tricks like that in the arsenal that are really just a ploy to start writing. Get anything on the page. It\u2019s stupid, but sometimes literally typing out what happened in the game can kickstart something. I don\u2019t know. The biggest enemy of writing is not writing, so sometimes the only answer is to write.<\/p>\n
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\u2013 Of course. So then it seems like you eventually found what you wanted to talk about, but you kept part of the diary bit. I\u2019m not sure I understand that.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Well, see, I kept it because I had already written it and didn\u2019t want to erase it.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Sure.<\/p>\n
\u2013 I thought it was good! I always enjoy poking at Peacock as a streaming service. I thought the thing about dropping into the game down 17\u20133 was funny. The daylight savings bit?? That\u2019s good stuff! And I really did forget that the game didn\u2019t start until 9. Jokes aside, if I didn\u2019t have to write about it I absolutely would\u2019ve bailed. I don\u2019t know, it felt like a pretty accurate portrayal of the watching experience and I wanted to keep it.<\/p>\n
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Makes sense. But you didn\u2019t feel like doing it for the whole game?<\/p>\n
\u2013 I think if you\u2019re going to go full Bill Simmons and run back a Game Watchalong Diary, you have to commit from the beginning. If you want to do it well, you have to go into the game taking notes, workshopping jokes, feeling it in the moment. It\u2019s really hard to fake that. People can tell.<\/p>\n
\u2013 I\u2019m glad you\u2019ve got some integrity about it.<\/p>\n
\u2013 I have nothing if not that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ok so let me walk you through how this night went for me and see if it tracks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[2888,7,363,559,791,65885,2725,572,6971,7993,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,698,474,930,2594,2474],"class_list":["post-663693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-clippers","tag-arsenal","tag-basketball","tag-bennedict-mathurin","tag-clippers","tag-darius-garland","tag-de39aaron-fox","tag-devin-vassell","tag-dwyane-wade","tag-john-collins","tag-jordan-mclaughlin","tag-la","tag-la-clippers","tag-laclippers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesclippers","tag-nba","tag-peacock","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-stephon-castle","tag-the-spurs","tag-wemby"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116246863180092914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}